Thursday, 15 November 2012

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- An Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, the health ministry said, bringing the death toll to 19 on the second day of fighting.

Brothers Tareq Jamal Naser, 16, and Oday Jamal Nasser, 14, as well as Fares al-Bassiouni were killed when Israel bombed their home in Beit Hanoun, the ministry said.

The brothers' father and three children were among six injured in the explosion. Witnesses said a fire broke out affecting a nearby mosque after the bombing.

Israel's army said it had hit around 70 rocket-launching sites in the course of an hour on Thursday evening, as deadly violence continued since Israel assassinated a Hamas commander on Wednesday.

The aerial bombardment set off earth-shaking thuds and fireballs in the dark sky and were met with screeches of Palestinian rocket fire launched from the outskirts of Gaza City towards southern Israel. more

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A 10-month-old baby died on Thursday evening from wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike, as fighter jets renewed their assault on the Gaza Strip.

Hanin Tafish died from injuries sustained when her home was struck in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza city on Wednesday, medics said.

Witnesses said Israeli airstrikes targeted over 25 locations in the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, as the death toll rose to 16 since Israel assassinated a Hamas commander on Wednesday.

The aerial bombardment set off earth-shaking thuds and fireballs in the dark sky and were met with screeches of Palestinian rocket fire launched from the outskirts of Gaza City towards southern Israel.

One of the sites targeted was an electricity generator that fed the house of Hamas's prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh. It was unclear whether he was at home at the time.

Israeli aircraft also bombed a police station in central Gaza and tunnels on Gaza's border with Egypt through which basic civilian goods and arms destined for militant groups pass into the Strip, which is under a tight blockade by Israel and Egypt. more

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 15 on Thursday as a Palestinian child succumbed to wounds sustained earlier and a man's body was found buried in the rubble of an Israeli airstrike.

Eighteen-month-old Walid al-Abadleh succumbed to his injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza early Thursday.

The body of a 52-year-old man was also pulled out of the rubble of an airstrike in the al-Amoudi area in the northern Gaza Strip.

Overall, medics say 15 have died and 150 were injured in the 24 hours since Israel began a major escalation in the Gaza Strip and assassinated a senior Hamas military commander.

Earlier al-Qassam members Rami Hamad and Khaled Abu Nasr were killed in an airstrike east of Jabaliya refugee camp. Their bodies were taken to the Kamal Adwan hospital, medics told Ma'an.

Before that Israel killed a senior police official and two al-Qassam Brigade members. more

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel’s bombardment of Gaza on Wednesday mark only the beginning of military operations, just hours after Israeli President Shimon Peres called President Obama to update him on the airstrikes.

Israel killed the military commander of Hamas in an airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Israeli troops have massed on the Gaza border, poised for invasion.

This latest surge of violence between Israel and Gaza militants occurred after Israel shot and killed at least two Gazans and intruded into Gaza with tanks and bulldozers. In response, Gaza militants fired a missile at an Israeli army jeep, wounding four soldiers – to which Israel responded with an extended bombardment of airstrikes.

But the Israeli leadership continue to try and claim Hamas initiated the flare up in violence, issuing the same statements of war rhetoric as always. more

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is calling for protests to be held in front of all major mosques around the country 3pm Thursday, calling on the government to cut all diplomatic and economic ties with Israel.
It has also called for large scale protests following Friday prayers at Al-Azhar Mosque.

The military operation carried out Wednesday by Israel killed top Hamas commander Ahmed Al-Jabari and saw the death of 11 others and the injury of tens more.

In a press statement released by the Brotherhood, of which President Mohamed Morsi hailed, the group states that Israel's "criminal aggression" poses a serious threat to stability of the region.

It further condemned US support for Israel and blamed Arab states for "standing idly as Palestinian blood is shed."

It further claimed that the government "cannot stand less than cutting all relations with the Zionist entity, since the Egyptian state needs to stand as a role model to Arabs and Muslims." more

Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah border crossing Thursday following the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.

An Egyptian security source told the German news agency DPA that the Egyptian authorities decided Wednesday evening to open the Rafah border crossing on Thursday and Friday. Border workers' holiday vacations were canceled.

“Work would resume on both sides of the border in order to be ready for the arrival of any injured Palestinians so they could be transferred to Arish Public Hospital, which is ready to receive them," the source said. more